Super Mario 3DWorld is the best 3D Mario

[Nuvendil]

curl-6 said:

Nuvendil said:

I guess I'm the only one who looks back at 64 and scratches his head as to why it is said to have aged beautifully and is sometimes called the best Mario.  It's controls were good but not great, it has a less distinct identity than any 3d Mario except 3D Land and honestly less interesting level design.  3D World constantly brings in new ideas and tricks while not sacrificing on the fun of powerups like previous 3D games foolishly and bafflingly did (not saying the powerups are bad (well, in 64 they are pretty lame) but the situational air of them and the fact you can't take them with you past arbitrarily predetermined points lessens them) and has plenty of personality.  64 was a great game for its time and it's still a good game now.  However it definitely eased Mario into the third dimension with a very safe approach aesthetically, narratively, and even in terms of level complexity.

Mario 64 was about as complex as 3D level design got at the time. The technology available then simply didn't allow for much more. Personally, I think they worked very cleverly within the constraints of the hardware to deliver worlds that seemed grand in scope and had something interesting around almost every corner. The way they were structured so that they never seemed convoluted or confusing yet still gave room for exploration and discovery, was remarkably elegant.

Oh for the time it was pretty astounding.  But then so was Pong :P

Within the constraints of the system, 64 was an amazing Platformer in its time.  But if we're talking point to point regardless of release time, every 3D Mario since then just about (as in, except 3D Land :P) has improved over it in numerous if not every way.  And I'll stand by the identity and personality bit cause Super Mario 64 is literally just standard Mario made 3D as far as aesthetics and tone.